Constant State of Exhaustion but Totally Worth it!

I love sleeping.  Sleeping is one of my top 5 favorite things to do and I am the type of person that tries to guarantee I get 8 hours of sleep every night.  Since I've been living here, that has not really been possible.  I've been going to bed super late because of Flashback rehearsals and no matter what time I go to bed, I STILL wake up around 7:30 every day.  Why?  I don't freakin' know.  So that being said, I'm in a constant state of exhaustion.  I do still have some energy to complete my tasks but I'm typically ready for bed around 10:00 pm...in the middle of Flashback rehearsal. :)  Flashback ends in like 2 weeks though so I need to love it while it's still around.  I've met some incredible people, I'm doing what I love, and it's all for charity!  That is definitely a win in my book!

I am working at Toy Story Midway Mania!  I absolutely adore this ride and working it is a blast!  Training went really well and I caught on quickly, mostly because of The Great Movie Ride experience I have (#slowmovingtramfam).  I really love going to work!  Every day is a new adventure and you always meet those guests that leave you with a smile on your face.  There are even the guests that make you roll your eyes, but in the end, I really do love my job.

I got to make magic during training!  Our ride picks something called "The Sheriff of the Day".  This child/family get to ride Toy Story Midway Mania all day with no wait, they can ride Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters for no wait, they get a special meet with Woody, AND they get special seating for World of Color!  I got to help pick out the family during one of my days of training.  It was a small family with three young girls.  The girl we specifically picked was named Evelyn and she was dressed as Cinderella.  The family was so excited and so grateful and we had a great time chatting with them while we waited for Woody to come out and meet them.  It was an experience I want to always remember.

Being a cast member can be very difficult sometimes.  Often you have to deliver bad news to guests if your ride is not operating, or you have to explain that where some guests are standing is a walkway and you're told you ruined their vacation.  Despite having some bad days or bad interactions, there is always one interaction or one family that reminds you why you love working for Disney.  Guests come to Disney to have great experiences and make memories with their friends and family, which is why I've loved Disney since I was young.  Because of those wonderful experiences, I want to be able to create those for guests I interact with now.  So though being a cast member is hard, it is the most rewarding job I've ever had. :)

Ta ta for now!

Flashback and my First Few Days

California is everything I wanted it to be and more.  Mind you, I've only been here since last Friday, but I love it!  The sunshine has been welcomed and the warm weather is perfect.  The fact I can look out my window and see palm trees has me googly eyed pretty much every day. :)

Check-in day (Sunday) was a little crazy and busy but it all worked out in the end!  I met some awesome people during check-in, especially in the drug testing line. :)  All of us in the drug testing line are working attractions of some kind or lifeguarding; basically any role that puts guest safety in your hands.  The line took a really long time, but we were all able to joke and talk while waiting.

My dad left right before my housing meeting so our goodbye was a little rushed, but I enjoyed having him here to help me!  Our drive to California was fun!  We always have a really good time together.  Also, my car made it safe and sound!  I'm so proud of Felipe. ;)

My traditions are not until tomorrow, so my roommate Lauren and I have been hanging out a lot!  She is so incredibly cute and we have an absolute blast together!  My other roommate Katie had traditions on Tuesday so she has been busy with training already, but has 6 days off so hopefully we can all go into the parks together!  My last roommate Khristine has traditions with us tomorrow so I'm hoping we will be able to take her for her first time to Disneyland. :)

The apartments here are beautiful and so much nicer than anywhere I lived in Provo.  I mean, I'm paying significantly more, but the quality is definitely represented.  Lauren and I have the corner room so two walls are almost completely windows.  When I walked in I got super excited!  I love natural light and having so much of it is exactly what I wanted!  Only issue?  The curtains they have are NOT very good.  They hardly block any light so at night the light pole outside our window seems like the sun. :)  I need to go buy a blackout curtain so I can sleep past 7:00 am.

I went to an info session for something called Flashback Productions.  Flashback is an annual charity performance Disney Cast Members put together.  There is singing, dancing, and acting and cast members are split into 4 teams based on line of business. It sounded like an amazing opportunity and something that I would love, so I took a chance and signed up for it!  I've only had two rehearsals so far, but I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!  I forgot how much fun I have while dancing, and though my body aches and I'm sore, I wouldn't have it any other way.  I was actually asked to be in the intermediate dancers group!  So we get to do harder dance moves and be in smaller groups.  There is one group above mine, which is the core dancers, and if I stay at Disneyland, my goal is to be in that group next year!  I've met so many awesome cast members so far and all of them are impressed I jumped right into an opportunity like that even before I'm an official cast member! :)

Yesterday Lauren and I got to go into California Adventure!  A nice guy we met during check-in named Brian is already a cast member and offered to let us in using his guest passes!  So he definitely made magic for us.  We had a blast together despite it being a little chilly outside (am I already used to warmer weather?!).  I can't wait for my Disney journey to official begin tomo
rrorrow!  Hopefully I'll figure out exactly where I'm working!

Disney College Program II

I. Love. Disney.  I'm not sure I've ever mentioned that before, but as you can see through my personality and various objects I own, it's clear I am a Disney freak.  I was actually labeled that when I first started my program at BYU because I was the only one that wanted to work for Disney after graduation.

I didn't do a great job documenting my journey during my first program.  Sure, I took pictures and posted them on Facebook, but I couldn't tell you any of those great and funny stories I was SURE I wouldn't forget.  Oh well, maybe in the next life we will have better memories. :)

Getting to where I am now was not easy.  This last semester was the hardest I've had.  Not because I was taking particularly hard classes, worked a lot, or had a ton of homework, but because I had a weird feeling the ENTIRE semester!  Seriously!  I was sad often, mad about little things, never felt like I had enough energy, was frustrated because I wasn't losing any weight despite taking three athletic classes, and my dating life was about as great as it is now (nonexistent).  I think a lot of my issues stemmed from my lack of energy, which I've finally solved!  I finally found out I'm lactose intolerant and have very little enzymes to break down many other types of sugars.  Unfortunately, because I couldn't digest anything, I was not getting any nutrients from my food!  So I was very malnourished, though I didn't look it.  Since I've been taking vitamins, I've feel 1000000000000000% better!  I've also tried to eat very healthy and with fresh ingredients. :)

Anyway, so last semester I had this plan to get a Professional Internship at Disneyland.  I'd already applied for one before and had no luck.  I figured because I was graduating this time I would have better luck.  Did I?  .....no.  I applied for 2 of them and did not get either of them.  When I got my "No Longer in Consideration" email I was incredibly upset.  I wasn't sure why my plan was not working out.  I thought I had prepared and did everything I was supposed to to get this internship!  Alas, it was not to be.  I called my mom and cried on the phone like I do.  After wallowing in my sorrows for a little while, I had a feeling I needed to apply for the Disney College Program and go to Disneyland.  I figured this would be a great way to get my foot in the door, allow me to network, and see if I actually want to continue working with Disney.  On September 30, I got my acceptance email!  I was on a plane landing at the Chicago O'Hare airport and was crying tears of joy next to some cute little old people.  I hoped they didn't notice me. :)

So the waiting game began, I started saving (the program in Disneyland is MUCH more expensive than Walt Disney World).  I was accepted to Attractions again, which made me incredibly excited!  I found some awesome girls to live with when I get to California, and I can't wait.

I leave on Friday, which is in 2 days, to start the drive to California.  The weather across the US has been kind of crazy!  Snow storms, freezing rain, sleet, hail, frozen fog, all over the place.  My dad and I were a little weary about the weather so we planned on leaving on Friday instead of Saturday.  It'll be a fun little vacation for daddy and I.

I'll try my best to update this as often as possible, but I may be a little preoccupied with the parks because they are so close. :)

Wish me luck!!

Disneyland Paris

I have been a Disney lover my entire life.  The first time I went to Disneyland I was a little over a year old, but I think growing up going, provided me with the nostalgia so many are missing.  I was looking forward to Disneyland Paris the entire trip.  I actually had a countdown on my phone throughout the whole trip.  Not because I wanted to fly through everything else, but just because I could cross another thing off my bucket list.

The day started out...rainy (like usual) and we left really early in order to get to our business visit early.  We met at Team Disney in their offices for a business visit.  This business visit was really interesting and something I thoroughly enjoyed.  I noticed we spoke a lot about how Disneyland Paris started out really badly and was able to turn things around.  They are still the least profitable park, but they have definitely improved over the years.  After the business visit, we got to go into the park!

I decided to hang out with Miranda (a fellow former Cast Member and Disney fanatic), Macie, and Ashlee.  We wanted to make sure we were with people that love Disney as much as we do and would be willing to brave the rain and go on as many rides as we could.  It poured the ENTIRE day.  And when I say poured, I'm not even exaggerating, it was insane but wonderful because the rain made the park empty out rather quickly.  No crowds makes for a great Disney day!

They have two parks there, Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios.  Disneyland Paris was the typical Disneyland layout with different lands.  One major difference?  Space Mountain.  Holy cow.  Space Mountain there was absolutely incredible!  To start off, it's called Space Mountain: Mission 2 and it has more of a Rockin' Rollercoaster feel than a Space Mountain feel.  You shoot upward to begin and the rest of the ride is just a series of turns, corkscrews, loop-dee-loops and fun music.  I was not expecting this ride, but it was absolutely amazing and I loved every second of it.
As you can see by our picture on the right, we were not prepared for when the picture would come, and that's the beauty of it.

We explored the park a little bit more and then headed to Pirates of the Caribbean.  This was an AWESOME rendition of the California version.  Definitely better than Disney World (sorry, someone had to say it).  The ride was a little backward in that the skeletons came last instead of first so the story line seemed a little off, but overall, a fantastic ride!

We did a few more rides in Disneyland and then headed over to Walt Disney Studios.  This had a bit of a Hollywood Studios/California Adventures feel to it, which I adored.  They had a Tower of Terror (the last one of its kind now that California Adventure is being stupid), a Ratatouille ride (which made me so happy because that is my favorite movie) and a ride called Crush's Coaster.  Crush's Coaster was similar to The Spider at Lagoon.  Except obviously, the themeing was much better and it left me smiling. :)

The main difference between Disneyland and Disneyland Paris is that Paris has a lot of beautiful gardens and walk through attractions, which isn't always characteristic of a Disney park.  There was an Alice in Wonderland labyrinth that I absolutely loved.  I just loved the entire experience of a new Disney Park and being able to live my dreams.  I can't wait to go back someday!

After a long and very wet day, we got on the long train ride back to our creepy hotel, so happy with how the day went.

The City of Lights is glowing this evening- PARIS

I had been waiting for Paris the entire trip, and not for the cheesy Eiffel tower pictures or just to say I’ve been there.  I’ve been looking forward to it because of a certain theme park that is nearby… that’s right; DISNEYLAND PARIS!  I mean, talking about Disneyland Paris is how they sucked me into looking into going on this trip!  Paula, one of the directors, saw me walking through the Wilkinson Center on campus, with my Disney backpack on and called out, “Hey we are going to Disneyland Paris on this trip!”  Obviously, being the Disney lover I am, I couldn’t resist.  Naturally, Paris was what I looked forward to most, not to discount the other cities because I’ve been surprised by many of them!  The entire trip has been a blast!  Before we get to Disneyland Paris, I’ve got to talk about the rest of the days there.

                The first day was a very long drive from Amsterdam to Paris, which I mostly slept all the way through.  We didn’t have our beloved bus driver, Marnix, to drive us so most of us were sad, but luckily we only had to deal with him for one day.  Miranda and I (my partner for Disneyland Paris planning) had decided we wanted to go scope out the trains to get to Disneyland Paris so we didn’t run into the same problem we did in Hamburg (being 45 minutes late to a business visit).  Debrief took FOREVER, so we finally got out of the hotel around 5:30 pm.  We took Macie and Spencer with us so we could navigate the trains all together, plus having a guy with us has always eased my mind a little bit.  We didn’t have too many problems getting there and were able to walk right up to Team Disney, where our visit was going to be on the next Monday.  We took some pictures in front of the signs and Miranda and I (both former Cast Members) were like little kids on Christmas.  We didn’t even get to go into the park, but Disney Village, which is like Downtown Disney, was good enough for us!  We went to World of Disney, which where Miranda worked when she was a Cast Member, and looked around at our options for memorabilia when we were there.  We had Earl of Sandwich for dinner, which made Spencer very happy because all he actually cares about is food! J  We knew it was getting late and that it would take a little while to get home, so we caught the train back and headed in the for the night.

                The next day we got to tour the Louvre.  I’m not sure if it was because I had just gone through the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam or what, but thinking of going through another huge museum seemed a little exhausting to me.  I got a glimpse of the Mona Lisa (much smaller than I expected), the Goddess of Victory, and Venus de Milo.  Other than those big ones, I wasn’t really looking for anything much in the museum.  I feel like I’ve never done as many stairs as I did in that museum.  Every time we went up a really long stair case, there was an equally long one after it that we had to go up as well.  The museum was beautiful but again, exhausting.  I know I’m sounding really ungrateful, but hey, these are my thoughts, right?  Anyway, after we were all super tired, we decided we were done for the day.  We met up with some friends and made the plan to go see Notre Dame, which I was excited about.  Coincidentally, while I’m writing this The Hunchback of Notre Dame is playing on my Spotify playlist; perfect background music!  We grabbed some lunch (I needed some comfort food, so I got a pretty good bacon burger) and we walked to try and make the last English tour of the day.  When we got there, the line for it was SO LONG!  We waited and the though the line went fast, we missed the start of the tour.  Our walk around the cathedral was incredible though.  The outside is just as amazing as the inside.  The rose window was gorgeous and I appreciated that I knew what things were because of the History of Interior Design class I took.  There happened to be a choir singing while we were in there, which made the experience even better!  We sat and listened for a while and I was in heaven.  I’ve come to love all the beautiful cathedrals in Europe and wish there were more in Utah!  While we were in there, it started to pour outside.  Like straight up DOWN POUR!  We couldn’t go back in, so we were going to walk to the metro and go get hot chocolate at a place called Angelina’s; but the rain kept getting worse (it was cool to see the gargoyles actually spit water out of the top of the cathedral) so we stopped into a souvenir shop close by.  I could tell the owners were mad everyone retreated to their shop, so I bought my mom some salt and pepper shakers shaped like the Eiffel tower.  They seemed a little happier after that.  Once the rain let up a little bit, we headed for the metro and to Angelina’s.  The hot chocolate was really good!  Almost tasted like literal melted chocolate.  We actually had to sit down for it and we even waited in line outside.  The experience was awesome, but expensive!  It was 8 euros for one hot chocolate, luckily I split with someone because I definitely didn’t think it was worth that much.  Basically the entire day I’d been battling a headache.  I took the meds required and they didn’t seem to do much.  Jessica and Danielle were gracious enough to accompany me back to the hotel so I could go grab a nap and just relax, which is probably what I needed.  We went to the McDonald’s and then relaxed on my bed and just laughed and talked together.  We decided later that I should probably go see the Eiffel Tower at night so I could see it sparkle.  I went with Spencer (we had to promise we would go get food), Jessica, and Danielle.  We watched it sparkle from the Alexander the III’s bridge which gave us a great view.  They told me not to look at it yet and I even got a handstand picture before I actually saw it with my own eyes.  I have wonderful friends. J  We had quite the adventure getting food (we ended up back at McDonald’s) and waited for over a half hour!  This was seriously the most inefficient McDonald’s I’ve ever been to!  Anyway, I got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle!  It was magical and wonderful! J  The next day I was super nervous because we were planning for Disneyland Paris!  I’ve got a whole day to talk about so I’ll just make another blog post about it. :D

All the weed in AMSTERDAM

I wasn’t really sure what weed smelled like until my time in Amsterdam.  The entire city smells like weed!  At one point we joked about getting a second hand high because of the amount.  If not for that, I would love to one day spend a lot more time in Amsterdam, possibly even live there!  Also, the amount of sketchy shops with porn and other inappropriate things may make raising kids there rather difficult.  I absolutely loved it despite all of that though. We only spent a day and a half in Amsterdam and I could have definitely spent a lot more time there!

                The first day we got in midafternoon and decided to go explore simply because we didn’t have a lot of time there.  We went and got some food, found the I AMSTERDAM sign because the flower market had closed by that point.  One thing, after using public transportation is most of the cities we visited, I loved Amsterdam’s.  The trains were usually right on time and were simple to figure out!  Plus, Google Maps has helped me a TON on this trip.  I feel like sometimes people just want me around to navigate for them.  They assure me that isn’t true, but in Amsterdam it definitely felt that way sometimes.  Anyway, so after realizing the flower market was closed, we found the sign near the Rijksmuseum and proceeded to go to the park featured in The Best Two Years, Vondelpark.  A few people in our group reenacted the scene, which was hilarious to watch!  We found this pretty blue bridge, took some pictures and then had to go back to the hotel for dinner.  In this hostel we actually had dinner provided to us which was super nice and saved me money! YAY!

                The rest of the night was spent laughing together in our room of 8 people and going to bed way too late.   I loved every second of it though!  The next day, Julia had asked me if I would go visit the Rijksmuseum with her and Kodey the next day.  Though it was expensive, I said I would gladly go with, I mean, might as well immerse myself in cultural things, right? :D  The famous painting there that was guarded was The Night Watch by Rembrandt.  I’m not sure why, but museums absolutely exhaust me!  After about 2 hours I was done!  It seemed like a museum you could easily spend a few days in, but I had seen what I wanted and was done.  My one big complaint about it was the layout.  It made getting anywhere rather difficult.  If you wanted to get to another park of the museum you’d have to take stairs down and back up and it all just seemed rather unnecessary.  Overall, the museum was beautiful and a great experience, but maybe not worth the money I spent on it! Outside, there were some beautiful gardens and a fountain you could play in without getting wet. I had the great idea to go get some pictures inside and outside the fountain. I gave Kodey my phone and Julia saw that the fountains went down for a moment. Julia and I  hesitated just a little too long and as soon as we jumped in the water started spraying up! Mind you, I'm wearing a skirt and I got sprayed right up the legs! Haha! And there were two different walls to go through so by the time we made it to the middle, we were soaked, laughing our heads off, and made everyone around us laugh really hard! Being wet the rest of the day wasn't fun, but the memory makes me laugh still!

                After the museum, we knew we wanted to see the flower market, grab some pancakes, see Rembrandt’s house, see the flea market, and of course go see our scheduled tour for the Anne Frank house.  We went for pancakes first at a place called The Pancake House.  Now, these pancakes are not likes ones in the US.  These are more like crepes in that they are large and flat but a little thicker than a crepe.  I got one called the Caprese.  It had mozzarella, pesto, tomatoes, and onions on and in it.  It was incredible!  It tasted so good!!  Jonah leaves for Amsterdam tomorrow so I spent some time telling him what he should do and what to avoid.  After pancakes, we went to the flower market, which I was excited for the entire trip!  I was hoping to buy some import approved tulip bulbs to bring back but apparently they are out of season, so none of the shops were carrying them.  I was super disappointed.  The markets were still really fun to look at and the flowers were beautiful!  I wish we hadn’t missed tulip season!

                We went to the Waterloo market after that and looked at all the little stands.  I finally found a cute crew neck sweatshirt and bought it!  I forgot all my sweatshirts at home and knew I’d need at least one for Iceland.  The market was incredibly sketchy but also charming at the same time.  Obviously, everything wreaked of weed as well! Haha!  There were entire booths dedicated to all things weed which was funny. J  We quickly took a picture in front of Rembrandt’s house and hurried off the Anne Frank house, but we got there early so we went into a small shop and bought a stroop waffel, it was SOO good!!

                The Anne Frank house was incredibly humbling.  We actually had an educational visit, so we got a special tour.  We were able to ask our guide questions about the way they run the business and even about the Frank family.  Our group actually got to see Otto Frank’s office (something not open to the general public) as well as the kitchen where they made the product they sold (something to make jam, I can’t recall exactly what it’s called).  Then we toured the house with the rest of the general public.  I always knew the area was small, but I didn’t realize exactly how small it was until I was there.  To have 8 people in close quarters for 2 years would drive me insane.  I think the families did drive each other mad while they lived together, but they would have preferred that to what ended up happening.  Otto Frank is the only one of the 8 people in hiding that lived through the concentration camp and the liberation.  The group got separated shortly after being arrested and sent to different camps.  When Otto finally went back home, he knew his wife had died but wasn’t sure about his daughters, he quickly learned they were never coming home.  I have no idea how I would ever be able to survive something like that.  Otto is amazing for turning a tragedy into something to honor his family and his daughter’s memory. There was a short video of him talking about reading the diary.  He said he thought he knew his daughter very well, but the girl speaking in the diary was different than the Anne he knew.  He said that parents never truly know their children, especially if the children aren’t in an environment where they can truly express themselves.  Just left me feeling a little somber, but hopeful that I’ll be able to have a good relationship with my future children.

                I hope to be able to visit Amsterdam soon and spend lots more time there!

Love Never Dies when you're in HAMBURG

A few successful things happened while in Hamburg!  I was able to fill the prescription for another EpiPen because there was an international pharmacy in Hamburg really close to our hotel!  Marnix, our bus driver, was more than willing to help me with the whole situation and I’ll be forever indebted and grateful to him for looking out for me!  He even let me use his phone to call my mom, which probably cost him money but he said he always likes to help people.  Without Marnix, our trip would definitely not be as successful as it has been.  He goes above and beyond in his job!  He calls the hotel in advance to see if there is coach parking and even helps us communicate on issues we are having with restaurants or the hotel.  He is seriously one of the coolest people I’ve ever met.  I loved hearing his life story and his opinions on things.  I hope one day he can come visit Utah and our group can throw a big party for him!

                Anyway, off topic, I apologize.  The first day, I filled my prescription and then went to the Birkenstock store with Julia, Jessica, and Danielle.  I have still resisted buying some even though almost everyone else has!  I’m sorry, I’m not about to spend 50 euros on something I think is ugly just because everyone on the trip is buying them!  I’m not made of money!  Danielle and I stayed out of the Birkenstock game. J  We then navigated public transit (I’m seriously professional now) to get some dinner and spaghetti ice cream.  Dinner was pizza but had broccoli and corn on it!  It was surprisingly tasty!  I opted out of getting spaghetti ice cream because the lady didn’t speak any English and I couldn’t get her to understand me asking if there were walnuts in it.  I got frustrated and just gave up. Haha!  I didn’t really want to end up back in the hospital again.  We went back to the hotel and got there just in time because it started POURING!  Literally, water was falling in buckets off the roofs of nearby buildings.  By the way, we were in an incredibly sketchy part of Hamburg.  There were a lot of people that seem super shady and hang out outside our hotel and around the pharmacy.  I’m glad I was always in a group because I would have been terrified!

                The next day our small group went to Miniatur Wunderland.  I figured this place would just be a bunch of figurines in little replicas of the city.  I had no idea they would be electronic and move or light up!  That was absolutely amazing!  I enjoyed my time there immensely, but renewed my anger with children that have no respect for others.  Parents just let their kids get away with anything and don’t think twice about it!  When I’m a parent I hope I can figure out a way to assure my kids are respectful to other children and adults around them.  And that they will wait their turn in a line for chocolate (long story that just makes me angry for no reason).  After the Wunderland, we went back to the hotel, picked up our laundry (there’s a place that will wash, dry, and fold and it was wonderful to get everything cleaned!), and headed to our big group lunch.  I was FINALLY able to eat a nice juicy steak and potatoes and I was in heaven!  I haven’t eaten a meal that big the entire trip and it was well worth the wait.  Except I miss my daddy’s seasoning skills.  We then headed to our backstage tour of Love Never Dies, the supposed sequel to Phantom of the Opera.  We were almost 45 minutes late to our tour though and they almost didn’t put it on for us.  I mean, if the leaders of the day were on top of things we wouldn’t have been late, but they didn’t push for us to leave and get there on time.  It was incredibly embarrassing.  We got a short tour but at least they were willing to give us anything at all!  The opera was absolutely amazing.  Jim’s daughter-in-law played Christine and she is amazingly talented!  Though I did not understand anything that was being said, except Coney Island, I was able to focus on the emotion and how that affected the story.  I truly enjoyed the play and got many signatures afterward.

                Overall, Hamburg was pretty cool!  A very sketchy area though and not one I’d probably come back to.  Also, I’m sick of staying in a hotel! Hahaha!  Bunkbeds are pretty much the worst and I can’t wait to sleep in until my alarm.